It’s happened again: Dormy House suffers more damage as truck tries to turn into Silverless Street

Written by Tony Millett on 29 October 2015.

Late addition: photo of the HGV vehicle that did the damage and an eyewitness account.

Dormy House - the listed building on the corner of Kingsbury Street and Silverless Street - has had to call in the repairers four or five times this year after parts of the building were hit by large trucks.

A truck belonging to a Dutch haulage firm had turned out of the High Street beside the Town Hall and was going up Kingsbury Street when the driver decided to turn right into Silverless Street.

This time the damage caused to the building by the lorry was much more serious and the incident was frightening for the people working in the Dormy House offices.

They say that the sign at the junction of Silverless Street and Herd Street has reduced the number of large and articulated trucks turning into Silverless Street as a satnav inspired short cut to the High Street.

But the sign erected by Wiltshire Council in Kingsbury Street seems to be encouraging lorry drivers to try and turn into Silverless Street after they leave the High Street and come round the corner by the Town Hall.

Michael Garreffa who lives in the High Street and was walking nearby told Marlborough News Online: “At around 10:25 am I heard the smashing noise and saw the lorry damage Dormy House as he was squeezing into Silverless Street."

The Dutch HGV vehicle leaveing Silverless Street (Photo: Michael Garreffa)[Click to enlarge]"I ran my socks off to get this photo. The noise is what actually caught my attention at first - so I would find it hard to believe that the driver was not aware of the damage he caused.”

“I live just around the corner and love Marlborough to bits. It breaks my heart to see this sort of damage and disrespect to our town. I cannot believe the amount of times this has happened as well. We need some sort of metal height barrier at that corner so lorries can visibly see the height restriction and deduce for themselves they will not clear it.”

“Normally there is a lady siting in the corner of that room in Dormy House. Luckily for her she was not in today.”

The police are investigating this incident and have copies of Mr Garreffa's photographs.

A truck has also ripped off the porch over the front door of No. 2-3 Silverless Street. The lorry that did that must have been driving on the pavement.

No 2-3 Silverless Street

You can see some photographs of earlier incidents of very large trucks endangering buildings in these narrow streets - and potentially endangering pedestrians - here.